Was God

John 1:1,4,7,12-13,15,18 – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind…He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe…Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God…(John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”)… No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Psalm 119:89 – Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 – This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Romans 9:5 – Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

Application:

• ·         “Word” in Greek means logos, a term Greeks used not only of the spoken word but also of the unspoken word, the word still in the mind—the reason. The Jews, however, used it to refer to the “word” of God by which He created the world and governs it and to refer to the law of God that He gave the Israelites to be their life. The Word was distinct from the Father.
• ·         “God so loved the word” is the great truth that motivated God’s plan of salvation.
• ·         “Your word” is God’s word by which He created, maintains and governs all things. The secure order of the heavens and the earth declares the reassuring truth that God’s word, by which He upholds and governs all things, is enduring and trustworthy.
• ·         “All the words of this law” are said to be their “life”
• ·         “Messiah, who is God” is a statement affirming the deity of Jesus the Messiah.
• ·         Life is Christ’s gift, and He, in fact, is “the life”. This Gospel also links light with Christ, from whom comes all spiritual illumination. He is the “light of the world”, who holds out wonderful hope for humanity and for the creation.
• ·         John the Baptist’s singular ministry was to testify about Jesus.
• ·         Membership in God’s family is by grace alone—the gift of God.
• ·         People would normally have ranked Jesus lower in respect than John, who was older. John the Baptist explains that Jesus surpasses him, since Jesus, as the divine Word, existed before he was born on earth.
• ·         “The one and only Son, who is Himself God” is an explicit declaration of Christ’s deity. Sometimes in the Old Testament people are said to have seen God. But we are also told that no one can see God and live. Therefore, since no human being can see God as He really is, those who saw God saw Him in a form He took upon Himself temporarily for the occasion. Now, however, Christ “has made Him known”.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV